Thread by @realjusthuman

🧵Update on DOJ's efforts to unseal Epstein and Maxwell grand jury material:

-DOJ has a filing due today answering 5 questions from Judge Berman (Epstein) and 3 questions from Judge Englemeyer (Maxwell).

-Letters from victims are beginning to hit the docket.

-One of Maxwell's attorneys has withdrawn from the case.

In Epstein, Judge Berman asked DOJ to

-Verify dates of the grand jury presentation(s)
-Provide all exhibits shown to grand jurors
-State whether DOJ seeks to unseal the exhibits as well as the transcripts (in an earlier filing they said they did)
-ID which exhibits are not public record
-Provide the court with analysis on how the Nolle Prosequi that ended this case when Epstein died may impact this current effort to unseal these materials.

Nolle prosequi means "not to wish to prosecute."

When Epstein died, the case needed to be dismissed, as it couldn't go forward without a defendant.

Here is that filing.

Judge Berman's July 22 order gave victims until Tuesday, August 5, to file letters.

Two letters just hit the docket.

The first letter purporting to be from a victim of Epstein is unsigned.

The second letter purporting to be from a victim of Epstein is signed Xxx-victim/survivor

I will assume these letters are genuinely from victims and, out of respect and consideration for them, refrain from commenting on their content.

I will highlight this portion of one of the letters, though.

In Maxwell, Judge Engelmayer ordered the DOJ to provide the court with answers to these three questions:

-State whether the DOJ is moving to unseal the exhibits as well as the transcripts
-ID the exhibits which are not already part of the public record, taking into account what was present to the grand jury, presented at trial, and what became public in other litigation (such as through Giuffre v. Maxwell)
- ID in the transcripts the information that is already public

So DOJ has homework due today in both cases. I'll update this thread with their filings once they turn them in.

Lastly, for now anyway, Maxwell's co-counsels, Christian R. Everdell and Mark Cohen of Cohen & Gresser LLP have withdrawn from the case.

Maxwell retained them back in July 2020 when she was indicted and arrested, and they represented her through the trial and sentencing.

But when Maxwell filed an appeal, she hired David Markus of Markus/Moss PLLC for that task.

And when DOJ made their motion to unseal the grand jury material, Markus filed as counsel of record in this case.

What's notable about all this is that David Markus is ALSO Hillary Clinton's counsel of record in Trump's civil RICO against Clinton et al.

Picking this thread back up.

DOJ turned their homework in on time. Barely. Let's take a look.

In Epstein, the assignment was to answer these questions:

In Maxwell, the assignment was to answer these questions:

DOJ filed the same letter in each case

First answer:

- At this time, DOJ is only seeking to unseal the grand jury transcripts

"a large number of exhibits were admitted at the Maxwell trial, which trial exhibits are—subject to judicially approved redactions and/or sealing—presumptively public documents...

The Government previously made those trial exhibits... available to the public"

- DOJ is considering asking for the unsealing of grand jury exhibits, though, and asks to be given until Friday to provide an answer on that.

Second and Third answer:

Fourth answer:

There's some information in the Maxwell grand jury transcripts that has not been made public, but most of it has, either through the trial or through public statements and media.

DOJ has identified what information has NOT yet been made public.

DOJ is prepared to do a similar analysis on the Epstein grand jury transcripts if Judge Berman asks for it.

Fifth answer:

DOJ is currently comparing the grand jury exhibits with what was made available at trial in Maxwell and what has become public information through civil litigation.

As noted earlier, they are asking to have the rest of the week to finish this analysis.

Sixth answer:

"the nolle prosequi filed in the Epstein case does not impact the proposed disclosure."

"the fact that Epstein passed away—which was the basis for the entry of the nolle prosequi—is a factor to be considered."

And weighs in favor of the unsealing—not against.

Seventh answer:

-DOJ is having difficulty contacting one of the victims referenced in the grand jury transcripts, but all others have been notified.

-DOJ is still in the process of notifying victims who are NOT identified in the transcripts.

"In light of... the multifaceted nature of these and other relevant proceedings..."

DOJ may come back to the courts and "modify or supplement the information provided today..."

🤔

What comes immediately to my mind is the Giuffre v. Maxwell civil suit, where on July 23, right as all of this grand jury stuff with DOJ was kicking off, the Court of Appeals issued this opinion.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

That Court of Appeals opinion says that district courts erred in 2019 and 2020 "in maintaining certain documents under seal or refusing to make other documents public..."

Here are the errors:

a. concluding that materials filed in that case were categorically not "judicial documents," blocking them from a presumption of public access.

b. in concluding that Giuffre's Florida deposition transcript...was entitled to only a "barely cognizable" presumption of access..."

c. And the "district court failed to treat briefs and supporting documents filed in connection with sealing or unsealing motions as judicial documents."

For those reasons, the Court of Appeals VACATED the district court's opinions of Dec 2019 and January 2020 and REMANDED the case back to the district courts for a review of the materials at issue.

So this may lead to some unsealing of material that is substantially similar or the same as what the DOJ is seeking to have unsealed in Epstein and Maxwell.

The other thing that comes to mind is, of course, @DAGToddBlanche visiting Maxwell and interviewing her.

I believe and trust Blanche and @AGPamBondi that "no lead is off-limits."

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi But I do not believe or trust Ghislaine Maxwell.

At all.

So I'm not putting a lot of expectation into those efforts.

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi And I am putting zero expectation into the stuff Congress is doing in relation to the Epstein/Maxwell matters.

That's a sideshow and a clout-chasing exercise as far as I can tell.

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi My overall view on these efforts—from the DOJ's unsealing of grand jury materials and Blanche's meeting with Maxwell to the theatrics in Congress and influencers' agitprop—is that the core conclusions of the DOJ's July 6, 2025, memo will remain unchanged.

People who place a lot of value in and take feedback from memes and punditry will not accept this. They will continue to reject these conclusions and promote the Epstein Hoax.

People who place a lot of value in and take feedback from the documents and evidence have already arrived at the same conclusions that are found in the DOJ memo.

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi Judge Engelmeyer granted DOJ's request for more time to assess whether it wants to unseal any grand jury exhibits.

They also have until Friday to respond to Maxwell's filing, which was just docketed.

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi Maxwell's attorneys, who are also Hillary Clinton's attorneys in a civil RICO case brought by Trump, just made this 9-page filing.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi Maxwell is, unsurprisingly, OPPOSED to the unsealing of the grand jury material.

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi "Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain."

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi "Because this is ongoing litigation in a criminal case involving a living defendant with existing legal remedies, the government’s motion should be denied."

"Epstein may be dead, but Maxwell is alive and litigating her case.

Maxwell’s Petition for a Writ of Certiorari is pending before the Supreme Court. She is preparing a habeas petition. Disclosure of grand jury materials at this stage risks irreparably tainting the legal process by injecting sealed testimony into the public debate while judicial review is ongoing."

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi The "immense public interest in Jeffrey Epstein's and Ghislaine Maxwell's cases [which] [the] government frames [] as historical"... "is nothing more than widespread and intense public curiosity about an ongoing criminal case."

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi "There is no precedent for unsealing grand jury transcripts in an ongoing matter like Maxwell’s case."

@DAGToddBlanche @AGPamBondi "The government’s motion to unseal the grand jury materials in this matter should be denied."

Signed, David Oscar Markus (aka Hillary Clinton's civil RICO attorney)